Unfair to Scratchers?

There has sometimes been a question as to whether, or not, laws regulating scratching and scratchers is fair. It has even popped up here on Tattoo Blog. Well if the last horror story wasn’t enough to convince anyone that the art of tattooing is better off being regulated how about this one from Australia?

In the Land down Under only the State of Queensland has the regulation to be licensed, unlicensed operators risk a $30,000 dollar fine, and even that was being poorly policed according to Caz Smith of The Professional Tattoo Association of Austraila. As a result cases of Hepatitis B and C had risen to an alarming 277,000 from only 13,000 across the continent within the space of a single year!

Now I have to ask the question that since the Aussies are on the large part unregulated, just who is being treated fairly? Certainly not the poor saps who will have to live out their lives, (short as those may prove to be), with these deadly diseases thanks to allowing scratchers to run wild!

One of the biggest whines that scratcher supporters, (most likely the scratchers themselves), have is the high cost of an apprenticeship. What? You want an artist who cared enough to pay the price to get his own training to give it away to you? This argument is just another case of wanting something for nothing, or damn close to it.

Hell, the reason I had to quit tattooing was because of my deteriorating eyesight. Am I crying about the cost of surgery being too high, or unfair? Hell no! I am doing all I can to get the cash to get the surgery done. Its part of the price I’ll have to pay if I ever want to tattoo again, and I’m willing to pay it. This is on top of what I’ve already paid for an apprenticeship, and getting properly trained. Why? Because the art and the client are worth more than my putting them at risk by not being able to see properly, that’s why!

We pay the price necessary to get something we want more than anything, and it isn’t easy. If your too damned spoiled to do whatever it takes to get properly trained, or too damned lazy, then you don’t deserve to be a tattoo artist in the first place. Which is most likely the real reason you get turned down.

After a few years of dealing with people from all walks of life a tattoo artist gets to be a pretty good judge of character, and if your are a good enough artist, if we see you have the heart to do the work well and give it, and your client the respect they both deserve; most of us have no problem working something out. If you show us that you are just looking for an “easy” job, most likely we won’t give you the time of day. Even if you do have the cash.

Tattooing is not an “easy” job. Tattooing is not something just anyone can do. Tattooing is a very special art form. Tattooing is a highly developed skill that takes a special kind of person to do right.

So are tattooing laws unfair to scratchers? Damned skippy they are, but they are a hell of lot more fair to the people who matter the most. The client and our fellow tattoo artists who had the balls to do whatever it took to become a tattoo artist.